RDX Inner Gloves with Wrist Strap Review

RDX is one of the UK’s most widely known fight brands, who are now pushing their products over to the US, as well as already having popularity in a large number of countries. They have a reputation for producing quality gear for any level, with reasonable price tags. They’re often people’s first choice for equipment when they’re starting out in martial arts.

Aesthetics

This product is an alternative to hand wraps, used mainly by beginners who are unsure how to wrap their hands properly or more experience strikers who prefer the convenience of slipping a glove on rather than the longer process of hand wrapping before they workout. They’re available in a just four different colours; Red, Blue, Black with gold trim and Black with green trim and come in small, medium, large and extra large. We reviewed the Black with gold trim.

Materials and Craftsmanship

According to the RDX website these gloves are made from ‘Woven CF-F’ material, the labels don’t offer any indication of what CF-F material is, but it is elasticated, with Ayz-F elastic for a tight grip that prevents them from slipping round your hand, and fits very comfortably. RDX also advertise that the gloves come with Shell-Shock Gel integrated Aero Foam padding in order to protect your knuckles whilst striking. The wrist strap includes RDX’s Quick-Ez Velcro closure system to ensure it stays tight throughout training.

Use

I don’t find these gloves as comfortable as wrapping my hands, I have to clear that first. Wrapping allows you to customise the thickness of padding round areas of your hand and the support for your wrist, and even with a 75cm wrist strap the inner gloves can’t offer that same support. I also find that after a longer training session the gloves tend to slip up your wrist, painfully pulling the material between your middle and ring finger deeper into the webbing of your hand. However that isn’t to say these gloves aren’t useful, in fact I do quite like them. If you’ve got an hour long boxing or kickboxing class and you’ve got 5-10 minutes to warm up, spending up to 5 minutes (depending on how quick you are) wrapping your hands is a bit of a pain. I run before all of my classes so wrapping beforehand isn’t the best option for me, and sometimes I don’t get a chance to wrap them in between, in that case I can quickly slip the gloves on and it offers me enough protection to get through a pad session or some light sparring. I wouldn’t recommend them for competition, or for a heavy hitting experienced striker, but for a beginner or someone in a rush they’re ideal.

Cost

RDX retail these inner gloves at £9.50, and at the time of writing they’re offering free worldwide delivery. You can pick up a pair of Fairtex hand wraps for £5 more, and if you were picking one or the other, I’d go for the wraps. But as an additional piece of gear in your gym bag they’re ideal, and worth £10 if you’ve got it spare.